Eagle or a Tiger

September 23, 2018

This week was pretty good! Had a surprise exchange with Flin Flon on Wednesday, it was supposed to be on Saturday after ZC and after they had done exchanges with the zls in Saskatoon on Friday but they figured it better if they came and did it the day before ZC.
Me and Taylor worked together for the day and watched black and Arajuo walk around town since they can't drive on the mission. Me and Taylor had a pretty interesting exchange, we found out from a pretty different lady that told us when we die I'm gonna be an eagle or tiger and Taylor is going to be a red tail fox haha she believed that when we die we turn into animals. She told us that one of their cats is her husband’s best friends that died a while ago...
Had a girl on one door tell me and Taylor that we were hot, she was in her 20s and she was a little tipsy from the looks of it but hey we figured that still counts. It was Taylor's door and he did the little intro to us and what we share and she's staring at us the whole time kinda giggling and then she's like "look you guys are hot and all but I don't think I can do this tonight as much as I want to." so we kinda looked at each other and gave the look like well I think it's time to leave and we finished up with her and went on to the next door haha it was pretty funny though.
Had a pretty good ZC this week on members and missionaries and at the end president and sister Hitchcock gave us all M&M's to remind us of "members and missionaries" work together.
I did the musical number on the guitar for ZC, played a poor wayfaring man.
After ZC we drove out to a little town called Watson to meet with a part member family in the branch that we haven't ever really seen before other than this last Sunday. Super nice family, they live out on a little farm so that was a plus. Visited with them for a good 45 min about things they like to do and all that fun stuff, told them if they ever need a hand to give us a call and we'd try and make it out.
On the way out of Watson they told us we had to stop and see the 30' Santa in the middle of Watson so we did and got a couple pictures. It was pretty cool, they say he's up all yr.
Helped bro Prete this week with cleaning and cracking all his garlic. His living room right now has probably close to 2000 bulbs of garlic in it! Helped him drag it all in his place because he didn't want it to get froze out in the garage.
Had a pretty crazy thing happen this Sunday, pres. Froc was released as branch pres. and we got a new one from PA now pres. wright. Was kinda sad to see pres. Froc go even though I didn't even know him the whole 5+ yrs. as pres.
After church we had a memorial service to go to for a LA member Ashley who died this last week due to OD. Most everyone that was there was a nonmember so it was a different service but it was really good we thought. Played some Zac brown and highway to hell during it haha also did a balloon race after the little service.
Not too much else this week happened other than us finding a guy names Tim so made his own king James Bible because the name of God isn't correct in it.... So that was pretty interesting. He even gave us a huge copy to take home and read for a bit. He currently is working on the Spanish edition of the King James Bible and he doesn't know Spanish so I don't know how that's going for him. Bro turner said he knows Tim and that he was crazy even back when he was serving here 20yrs ago haha
Well hope you all have a good week!
Love ya talk to ya next week! 

Winters Coming

September 17, 2018

To clear this up here with transfers. I'm still in Melfort. I’m with elder Black again!
I was in Saskatoon waiting for the transfer train to come back and everyone that I went to see while I was there in Saskatoon thought I was the new elder in the area.  Also not ZL. I'm just a normal guy.
So this week was full of rain, cold weather and crazy boredom stuff.
Did lots of tracting and we even found a couple potentials! Found one girl named Yana she's 28 she says but we think she's 23, maybe. She's was super nice and let us talk with her about the B of M for a while on her door even though it was late at night.
At one point during the week we had kept a street we tracted in Elder Blacks phone but then he forgot to save it and we lost that streets info so we had to go back and try to remember who said yes and no and wasn’t home, it was kinda sad to see how fast you forget who said what and what doors answered when it was only couple hrs. ago.
Lots of funny/ dumb random stuff happened this week due to the rainy weather and us being bored when the day is over, I'll make group message on FB and send some videos and what not over sometime today.
Ever since e Black got here the weather has been pretty sad and cold.... It got to 3 the other day and we thought we were gonna die! Middle of the week we had already pulled out the long underwear and it was 8 outside.... Winter is gonna be cold to say the least.
Had a good lesson with one of our La's Miguel. He's 17 and was baptized about 3yrs ago now, hasn't been out to church a whole lot in the past yr. or so due to having no ride from St Bruiex which is about 35 min away from Melfort. Super nice kid and he seemed to have a desire to start coming back to church again if we could get him there. Miguel he invited us back out again for next Saturday, hopefully we can keep on with him.
Met with Ron our investigator this week at the Lacnos and did dinner and a lesson.
Taught him about the B of M and did a mini restoration again just to refresh his mind on it again. At the end of the lesson we went around and shared out fav part or verse from the B of M and did a little testimony about it and how the B of M has helped them in their life, it was super good
We had a pretty exciting week but it's gonna make a long crazy email if I told you all about it so I guess I'll have to tell you about some of the stuff when I'm home.
Over all we did lots of tracting and freezing but it was a good week anyway!
Love ya all talk to you next week! 

 

 

Transfer Train

September 10, 2018

 

 

So this week has been kinda crazy due to transfers and packing and leaving and lots of driving.
Spent a good part of the week in Saskatoon with elder Burt from Calgary as sub ZL with him, we had a good time together for the few days as we waited for the transfer train to come back from Winnipeg. Almost sent Elder Black and Roberts up to Melfort so that me and Burt could serve together ha-ha wouldn't have actually but it woulda been fun.
Some of the members I met while I was there for the few days thought that I was the new missionary in the area even after we told them I wasn't... Wouldn't mind serving in Saskatoon after those few days of being there and meeting the members.
Finally the transfer train showed up Friday afternoon with everyone. Got to see Elder Doolen who I hadn't seen since Neepawa so that was nice! Got to see elder k Shaw for the first time since he got out here too so we had a good talk.
Had a good drive back to Melfort with Black talkin about Regina and what happened since we were last together which was quite a bit.
Once we got back we did some figuring with our phones since the Sim card didn't transfer the contacts over with it when we swapped it over at transfers so that sucked. Everyone is taking advantage of us not having contacts too cause they all call knowing we don't know who it is and they try to be someone who's interested in hearing from us or something like that. They got us once pretty good....
Done lots of tracting in the rain the last couple days which isn't too bad you just gotta look at it with the view of God is rain down blessing on you as you do the work.
Had stake conf Saturday and Sunday which was really good! Lots a good things were talked about and I think most the members needed to hear it as well as us missionaries.
Here’s a little quote from stake conf to give you an idea of what was the overall topic, "Don't only show love, speak love."
Well love ya all talk to ya next week! 

Elder Black is Back

September 3, 2018

Hey sorry I haven't got to you all till now been pretty busy helping the Turner's pull their house apart.
Well Saunis gone and Elder George black is back! Same one I served with in Regina about this time last yr. Never woulda thought I'd serve with 2 old companions in a row or ever.
This week was a pretty good week! Had exchanges with the zls in Saskatoon Wednesday night to Friday morning. Did some service with bro Vera helping him around his place again putting some drywall away and cleaning up the mess we made while fixing up the room.
Had dinner with the Turner's and a practice afterwards. Helped bro turner put up some hay in his shed before dinner so that was fun and itchy due to the fact we were in pros clothes, been quite a while since I’ve tossed square bales.
During practice with sis turner she decided I should sing with her on Wednesday (Tuesday was our first and only practice day). And we could do Johnny cash’s "Jackson" and "ain't me babe" ha-ha so we did a couple runs of it that night and we were doing alright so she figured yup let's do it! Wednesday night came and up we went to do our singing and playing for the museum bbq again. Lucy and Baylee they did there couple songs and I played all of sister turners songs for her while she sang and then she had me come in and sing those couple songs with her. Sis turners already lookin for another place we can go sing at...should be fun!
Had a pretty good exchange with the zls in Saskatoon Thursday. I was with elder Darley and elder Sauni was with elder Burt.
Every time me and elder Darley are together it seems that we have an interesting exchange and get all sorts of stories. Did a couple stop bys and we had one drunk native guy come out and talk to us for close to 30min since the lady we were looking for wasn't home (she was drunk) he asked us about gays and how we view them and how God views it all, Asked if we were born in the church, asked why we share God's word. Almost all the answers we gave him he had some way of turning them around on us and trying to get me and Darley to say opposite things if what the other said. It was pretty interesting because he'd ask one question to Darley and he’d answer no, then he'd ask me a different question and I'd say yes and he'd just get confused cause we think he thought he was asking the same question to both of us ha-ha it was just a round and round conversation with him.
Had a drug deal go down while we were teaching one of the potentials they had so that was pretty sweet.
Construction was all over the place down where we were trying to tract so in order to get around we had to drive up and down and around all the roads just to get to one street. On the way back though we just decided to use the alleyways and that kinda got us stuck when we came across one they had road closed signs at the end of it... It was a long ways to back up. While we were trying to decide what to do a car pulled up at the signs and a lady got out and moved the signs and the car drove in and we let them pass and then the lady let us out ha-ha and put the signs back. We were at this point on a construction site so we made a quick decision and elder Darley jumped out and moved the signs that were across road out of the way so I could get through to the other side of the alley and I drove across the road to the other side and yeah that's how we got around that time.
I gave a blessing to one of their investigators out in outlook after we taught a lesson with bro spencer which according to them was very good and what he was needing.
The Frocs boy got back from his mission this week so Saturday we had dinner with them and got to hear about his mission in Croatia (no idea how to spell it)
Had a last half hr. miracle Saturday night after dinner with the Frocs! We were doing some SBs and we got let into the one house we went to and got to teach a guy named Vincent, he's Filipino and has a Catholic background but isn't super strong in it from what he was saying but at the same time he is... Taught him the restoration and commitment him to read the B of M and pray about it. He wasn't too willing at first to do that because he felt he had what he needed and was good but eventually we got him to at least try and see and we didn't think we'd be getting back in with him but we got him to let us back again so that was good! He has lots of questions about us from the things other have told him but he doesn’t want to offend us. He asked a couple but we'll see if we can get him to ask more next time.
Had a lot of people show for Benton’s homecoming on Sunday! It was super good! I can't remember much of what he said but he made we wanna come home and have the change he seemed to have had while out, guess we'll see soon enough how that goes for me.
Well that was our week pretty much. It was a good one with lots a driving and finding new people so it's been nice.
Love ya all talk to ya next week! 

Picking Blueberries

August 27, 2018

This week has been pretty good and pretty busy! Didn't do a whole week of service this week so that was kinda nice in a way. Had interviews and exchanges this week with Pres and Flin Flon. 

Did the usual service at Salvation Army on Tuesday and in the morning before that we helped bro Vera put up some drywall in a room in his place. 

Wednesday we spent baking for Pres and Sister Hitchcock. Made some bread and cinnamon buns for them which they thought was great. After interviews they took us out to subway for dinner so that was pretty nice cause we got to visit with them for a bit about whatever we wanted.

Had some pretty good exchange miracles this week while Flin flon was down. Me and Arajuo had a good last half hour miracle, in 5 doors we had 3 try backs and 1 new investigator! The new investigators name is Kelly and he's 22 does IT work for a living, loves gaming, fighting, and skateboarding. Super friendly guy. We had a hr. long lesson with him on the restoration and learning where he's at with things. He told us that his place when he was young burnt down and that it kinda left a bitter taste in his mouth for a bit when it came to God and religion but that eventually he broke and realized that he needed God in his life and that he could help him. Don't go to church or do much with any stuff like that but he prays here and there and reads a verse a day before going to bed. Part of his reason for not going to church is because he works 4:30-6 every day other than Sunday so he sleeps most of Sunday away. Anyway we had a super good lesson with him and he asked some good things when he felt the need and was very glad that we came to talk with him about this stuff cause he wanted it back in his life but just wasn't sure how to go about it. We committed him to read the B of M and pray about it and he was pretty curious about it all so he accepted the invitation, we gave him 3 Nephi 11 to read. When we asked for a return appointment he was more than happy to take us up on it! He told us to come back the next day at 7:30.
Did some blueberry picking with sis turners dad out in the bush for a few hrs. the next day (he's not a member) Didn't get to talk with him a whole lot due to him scouting out some places to pick as we picked other stuff. Was nice to get out of the place where people are and have nothing but the sound of the trees and grass moving around you. 
Had a good lesson with Kelly that night on the plan of salvation and answered some of his questions. He read 3 Nephi 11 so that was pretty good! After the lesson we invited him to be baptized and turns out he has already been baptized so we had to have that awkward conversation with him where we tell him it wasn't correct... He seemed to take it pretty well though and said he would like a few days to think it over and he'd get back to us about it so we said for sure. Didn't get to set up a return appointment this time due to his work schedule but we got his number and he's got ours so we'll keep in touch and try to keep him going.
The next day Kelly referred himself to us on the internet so that was kinda nice cause now we now he's looking into us in the right places. 
Did some service for the Frocks Saturday helping them weed and pick apples, along with moving a few things around. 
Later got to do some service with Kim and Sheldon doing some baking and cooking so Kim could get it done faster. 
All in all we've had a pretty good week I think so it's been nice.
Everyone thinks that I'm supposed to be home now that elder Berry’s home! I’ve seen a few members from old areas lately and they all thought that I was going home shortly after elder Berry so they're were kinda shocked to see me around still.

Still got a few months left before then.

Well love ya all, talk to ya next week! 

 

 

Service at the Salvation Army

August 20, 2018

This week has been good, did some service as usual and even have to do some actual finding finally!
Ran into an ex communicated member that no one knew about so that was cool. They weren't interested but they visited with us for a few minutes on the doors step.
Found a guy named Trevor and his little boy Tradin. He told us the reason behind the name was because once he dies (Trevor) that his son is going to be a trade in of him so yeah, kinda cool I guess.
Talked with Trevor for close to 2hrs out on his deck. Got to hear a lot of his life story and what he believes in and why. In short he doesn't believe that religion is needed cause all it is people fighting over who's right and who's wrong and why you should follow them and no others.
It's true that's a lot of what religion seems to have become but there's more to it when you get past that. Also believes that religion is just something for people to lean on when they are scared, which is also true. A lot of the things he brought up were true but had some distortion to them but that's just how he saw it all so can't say much there. Super nice guy with lots of past behind him. What Trevor really wants is just for his son to have a better life then he did and to have what he needs. He told us we could come back and discuss things again but that we weren't gonna convert him haha challenge excepted.
Helped out the Salvation Army load up a truck full of clothes and shoes for other places throughout SK and Ab I think it was something close to 1600 bags of clothes... Took about 3hrs to load it all even with close to 20 people helping out.
Pres Nelson, his wife, and elder Anderson and his wife came out to Winnipeg this Friday to talk to the members on temple work and being a temple ready people. I don't remember much of what was said due to the connection we had over the internet but from what I caught it was good! Pres and sis Craig were there with pres Nelson so that was nice to see them again.
Sunday we helped the Kim and Sheldon move some more things into their place for more animals! After we got done moving the new stuff in we were out standing on the deck talking and their dogs popped the gate open and got up where we were and started jumping all over everyone and not listening to them when they said to get our get off. Finally once they got them back down Kim was like yeah we need to get that dog trained better, she just doesn't listen to us! So I offered to do that for them and Kim was like sweet when can you start!? So later today I’ll be going over there to start it, we'll see if they want me back after tonight... I told her yesterday the way we train our dogs are a little old fashioned with no treats other than petting them when they do good and dragging them back to where they are supposed to be when they don't listen but she didn't seem to care. Could be fun!
Had a lesson with a Filipino family last night as we were tracting! The lesson went pretty good despite the fact they couldn't understand English super well. We did find out though that they aren't super interested as of yet due to the fact that they feel all you have to do is believe in God and know he saved you and your good, also don't see much point in the scriptures cause they aren't 100% correct. They did however take the commitment to read and pray about the book of Mormon. No return appointment but they said we could come stop by and see how they were doing sometime.
But yup that was our week basically.
Bro turner invited us out to his place Saturday to help skin his Elk when he gets back from his bow hunt so I'm lookin forward to that! Might get to see Sauni get squeamish so it'll be fun haha.
Well Love ya all talk to ya next week!

Making Homemade Pie

August 13, 2018

 

Well I wish I could remember more of this week but I guess I'll just tell ya what I can remember as best I can, the days are all running together again lately.
Monday we spent making a pie with one of our members LA sons, he was giving us tips on how to make a good homemade pie and it turned out pretty good other then he got nervous and had us add a bit too much cloves haha but it was good anyway.
Did FHE with the old people like usual on Monday and as usual it was a hoot haha old people are funny.
Tuesday we spent driving around to members and Las places and visiting them since some of them are way out there and don't get to church very often. The Mondala’s the Filipino family you might have seen on FB with me and elder Sauni, they are moving close to Calgary so we went out there for a last super with the missionaries as they called it. They told us when we get home that we all have to get together and do something with them so that would be fun!
Wednesday the Flin flon elders were down for exchanges so we went and played balloon tennis with the old people! Me and elder baker were together so we watched these two old ladies fight over who hits the balloon out of turn when the other one misses it haha it was kinda funny especially when the one would growl at the other one haha
Did some service out at bro Pretes pretty well the rest of the day trying to help him get all his garlic in before he leaves this week to work. Me and elder baker had a race to see who could dig the most garlic and clean it properly and all that, just to try and make the time for faster.
Thursday was ZC and I may or may not have fallen asleep during it off and on... It's okay though because I told sis Hitchcock before ZC started that I might do that and she just laughed.
ZC is kinda boring for me now cause I feel like we have been trained on all the same stuff a thousand times and we do all the same practices. I know it's all for us to be better missionaries and all and if P Craig was here he'd say "learning is spaced repetition, so repetition is good." it's still hard to stay alive though sometimes.
When we got back from ZC we had a hr. left so we went and played some kids in basketball in our suites and got our butt kicked haha but we made some friends with them and it was fun so it was good!
Friday was weekly planning and more service with bro Prete doin garlic. I think I might die if u have to smell garlic again...! I don't mind the work but the smell is starting to get to me and yeah it's bad haha
Saturday we had a bday party for Caelynn our investigator so we helped her family put that on at the United Church. Kim (the mom) she had me do up the turkey and make the gravy cause she said she can't do those things very well. Once I had finished that stuff she was like "Sheldon I think I'm gonna take him home! He know how to do stuff!" haha
Sunday I gave me talk in church finally!! I’ve had a talk in church since I first got here but haven't actually gave it till yesterday! Did it on the atonement and Grace which the members said they liked so yup that was good.
Sis turner she put us down for dinner Wednesday night and put on it BRING GUITAR on it haha so I guess we might be doing some singing and playin!
Had dinner out at bro Pretes with bro Harrald and the Reesons, had pizza and peaches n ice cream along with garlic and peanut butter.... I didn't have the garlic though.
Went to a lesson elder Sauni and Arajuo set up while on exchanges but sadly they weren't there. Maybe next time.
Well that was pretty well our week!
Love ya all, talk to ya next week